I was in my car today, listening to 88.3 WBGO Newark, the local jazz station. They played a song that I’ve never heard before. I instantly recognized the singer as Billie Holiday, but forgot the name of the album that the velvet-voiced announcer mentioned after the song.
When I came home, I remembered reading about a website that supposedly allows you to find the name of the song and the album that you’ve heard on the radio. Unfortunately, I could not remember the name of the website, and a Google search of a couple of minutes turned fruitless. The idea of such a service always seems ridiculously useless to me, and even now when I actually had a chance to use it, it proved much simpler to just go to WBGO’s website and look it up there.
The song turned out to be “Comes Love”, a beautifully formulaic jazz standard. The lyrics tell you about the solvable problems and the one that isn’t.
Comes a rainstorm, put your rubbers on your feet;
Comes a snowstorm, you can get a little heat –
Comes love, nothing can be done.Comes a fire, then you know just what to do;
Blow a tire, you can buy another shoe –
Comes love, nothing can be done.Oh, don’t try hiding, ’cause there isn’t any use
You’ll start sliding when your heart turns on the juice.Comes a headache, you can lose it in a day;
Comes a toothache, see your dentist right away –
Comes love, nothing can be done.Comes a heat wave, you can hurry to the shore
Comes a summons, you can hide behind a door —
Comes love, nothing can be done.Comes the measles you can quarantine a room;
Comes the mousy, you can chase it with a broom —
Comes love, nothing can be done.That’s all brother, if you’ve ever been in love;
That’s all brother, you know what I’m speaking of.Comes nightmare, you can always stay awake;
Comes depression, you may catch another break —
Comes love, nothing can be done.
For some weird reason this reminded me of the horror of learning about computational theory and the Church–Turing thesis. Anyway, the song resonated with me somehow. Maybe it’s because the author of this song was Lew Brown of The Bronx, who turns out to be a former resident of Odessa, Ukraine known then as Louis Brownstein.
More importantly, the song was performed by one of the three best female jazz singers of all time, Billie Holiday. The the other two are Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, of course. The three of them generally are not considered equal. Fitzgerald is usually considered to be first, Holiday – second and Vaughan – third. Vaughan has the most beautiful and technically powerful voice, spanning from soprano to baritone. Holiday’s voice was not nearly as spectacular, and downright limited compared to Vaughan’s. But it had way, way more emotion and darkness. Ella Fitzgerald’s voice has both the range and technical perfection, as well as the deepness of emotion. She’s like a hybrid of the other two.
I, personally like Sarah Vaughan the best, followed by Billie Holiday. Vaughan’s voice makes me feel oh so good, and Holiday’s – so bad that it’s actually good. The way Billie Holiday sang “nothing can be done” totally made this song special for me. If there’s one person that knows about things about which “nothing can be done” – it’s Billie.
But I was wondering what the same song would sound like covered by Fitzgerald and Vaughan. Finally, a reason to buy something on iTunes, I thought, as three 99 cent songs makes more sense than three ten dollar cds, even when faced with the perspective of DRM limitations.
“An unknown error occurred (5002)” says iTunes store. Google search says – “nothing can be done”.
Update: iTunes relented and let me buy the songs. The contrast of the three renditions is exactly what I expected. The clarity and cleanliness of Lady Ella’s phrasing, the sexiness and faultless execution by Sassy (although a little spoiled by questionable orchestral arrangement) and the deep, desperate and dark emotional abyss of Lady Day’s voice, the ultimate finality in the words “nothing can be done.” Too bad I could not find a version by Diana Krall or Marilyn Maye.
Pingback: mission fitness
Pingback: best supplements for muscle gain
Pingback: Dallas Website Design
Pingback: Dallas Senior Portrait Photographer
Pingback: Fusion Reactors
Pingback: link
Pingback: internet marketing forum
Pingback: beanbags
Pingback: Glenn Zadeh
Pingback: buy discount shoes online
Pingback: cleaning business
Pingback: Atlanta Limousine Service
Pingback: see this
Pingback: diamond wedding rings
Pingback: engagement rings uk
Pingback: suplimente
Pingback: knjigovodstveni servis
Pingback: Cures For Psoriasis
Pingback: Chicago immigration attorney
Pingback: Escort girl Paris
Pingback: Roses to Sri lanka
Pingback: best omega 3 fish oil supplements
Pingback: lawn care advertising
Pingback: Miami Escorts
Pingback: blonde model
Pingback: icf scaffold
Pingback: resume help
Pingback: does salt water make your hair wavy
Pingback: what takes blood out of clothes
Pingback: heavy bleeding while pregnant
Pingback: respiratory therapist salary
Pingback: como seducir a un hombre casado
Pingback: cooking japanese food
Pingback: Calculator
Pingback: NYC Hotels
Pingback: URL
Pingback: cholesterol levels
Pingback: jobs hair
Pingback: Online Marketing Secrets Small Business
Pingback: Bellevue duct cleaning
Pingback: Scott Tucker Racing
Pingback: get more information
Pingback: watch super bowl live online
Pingback: boot camp workout
Pingback: football speed
Pingback: san diego seo consultant
Pingback: local search engine marketing
Pingback: car insurance austin
Pingback: Indianapolis DUI attorney
Pingback: Build Good Credit
Pingback: how to find your partner
Pingback: genital warts symptoms
Pingback: online file storage
Pingback: car loans
Pingback: Test tablet pc 2012
Pingback: buyback
Pingback: Asea
Pingback: Air Conditioning Maintenance
Pingback: Robert Shumake
Pingback: Johnathan Wmith
Pingback: Pest Control Tampa
Pingback: sugar daddie
Pingback: Family Holidays
Pingback: fitness boot camp
Pingback: author
Pingback: pass kidney stones
Pingback: watch seinfeld online
Pingback: Scott Tucker Racing
Pingback: marketing with anik
Pingback: Tracks Direct
Pingback: Montreal real estate photographers
Pingback: emt training online
Pingback: iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store deals
Pingback: swertres hearing
Pingback: realistische dildos
Pingback: cam chat
Pingback: Romance
Pingback: buy ferulic skincare
Pingback: hi lux
Pingback: Kamala Allegra
Pingback: Processors that will process for guns and amunition
Pingback: Swinging Door Traffic
Pingback: QuickBooks credit card processing
Pingback: spass am telefon
Pingback: cam und telefonspass
Pingback: How to Unlock Iphone 3Gs
Pingback: wholesale electronics
Pingback: http://www.floridahomeinsurancequotes.com
Pingback: Fernando Schleifer
Pingback: Bernita Hosier
Pingback: E cigarettes
Pingback: men's motorcycle vests
Pingback: Scrapebox VPS Server
Pingback: sears card
Pingback: St Pete beach rentals
Pingback: Li Bibb
Pingback: shipping to usa
Pingback: htc one x
Pingback: Scrapebox
Pingback: chase online banking
Pingback: Server
Pingback: strom
Pingback: flyttefirma
Pingback: flyttefirma
Pingback: residential mailboxes
Pingback: mobile cell site
Pingback: broadcasting tower
Pingback: online tire shop
Pingback: best drawing courses
Pingback: for sale cooper tire
Pingback: Click For More
Pingback: "triterpene saponins
Pingback: app marketing marketing
Pingback: geld-verdienen
Pingback: assembling products at home canada
I think mobile phone operators (Turkcell and Avea in Turkey) have launched a service 2-3 years ago through which you can learn about any song you are then listening just using your mobile phone as “listener”. Then they send you the details of the song; artist, name of album etc.
You can find a rather good version of this rare song on the cd XXL by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band with Brian McKnight and Take6 doing vocals and backing.
for similar purpose you could try Tunatic, I’ve found it impressive recognizing author and song: more details here
http://numerabile.it/2006/01/12/qualcosa-ci-ascolta/